Arkansas Tech defenders Shi Kobayashi (28) and Gerard Scutt (48) tackle a Southwestern Oklahoma State running back during Saturday night's Great American Conference football game at Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field. The Wonder Boys lost 28-17.

Arkansas Tech’s Wonder Boys got into scoring position in the second half, but they just couldn’t get over the hump.

Southwestern Oklahoma State (2-0, 2-0 Great American Conference) held ATU (1-1, 1-1) scoreless in the second half as the Bulldogs left Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field with a 28-17 league win Saturday night.

“A play here, a play there, but that’s football,” first-year head coach Raymond Monica said after the game. “The team that makes the least amount of mistakes wins the football game. I thought the kicking game would be a bigger factor than it was, but it came down to mental mistakes for us, on both sides of the football.

“You can’t have mental mistakes and foolish penalties and different things. You cut those things out, you’ve got a good football team. We can line up and play and compete. But when you have missed assignments and things like that, that’s how you lose football games.”

Trailing 21-17 at halftime, the Wonder Boys couldn’t capitalize on a 44-yard field goal from Randy Velasquez of Dardanelle after a 12-play drive that lasted nearly five and a half minutes. But Arkansas Tech got its first turnover when Bulldog D.C. Walker rushed 18 yards to the Wonder Boys 24, then Darion Shine forced the fumble and recovered it for Arkansas Tech.

The Wonder Boys were on offense for nine plays and advanced across midfield before they were forced to punt. On third down at the ATU 35, Southwestern quarterback Dustin Stenta hit a wide-open Brian Robinson in the middle of the secondary for a 35-yard touchdown. The Bulldogs led 28-17 with 10:12 to go in the fourth quarter.

The Wonder Boys later got the ball at their 5-yard line with three minutes remaining, but Luke Halpin’s pass was intercepted by Abram Piggee near midfield. That allowed the Bulldogs to run out the clock.

“We moved the ball well, both drives down there,” Monica said. “Then something would happen, and we missed a field goal. We have to be able to convert and make the field goals. But one play didn’t win or lose the football game. It was a whole bunch of them.

“I did tell the guys I liked the way they competed and they play extremely hard. We’ve just got to be more focus. It’s always easier to learn from a win than a loss. That’s the way it goes.”

Arkansas Tech got on the scoreboard first after forcing the Bulldogs to punt. The 10-play drive covered 65 years in nearly four minutes. Halpin hit John Simpson on passes of 12 and 35 yards, and the second gave the Wonder Boys a first-and-goal at the 3.

Casey Henderson got two yards, then Halpin went over the goal line from a yard out. Trevor Pinkston’s point-after kick made it 7-0 with 8:55 left in the first quarter.

SWOSU started at its 42 and needed just four plays to score. Stenta got the Bulldogs in the end zone, when he hit Brad Smithey on a 58-yard TD pass. Southwestern tied it 7-7 with 7:32 to go in the first, and the quarter ended with the same score.

But the first play of the second quarter didn’t turn out so well for Halpin, because his pass was intercepted by Terence Franklin and gave the Bulldogs a first down at the Wonder Boys 40-yard line.

One play later, Stenta gave SWOSU a 14-7 lead with his 40-yard scoring strike to M.J. Porter with 14:50 to go in the first half.

Arkansas Tech advanced to the Bulldogs 22 on its next drive, but had to settle for a 38-yard field goal by Trevor Pinkston, his first of the season. The Wonder Boys trailed 14-10 with 11:25 left in the second quarter.

Stenta got away from a tough ATU rush and threw to Ryan Corbin, who was behind the secondary and went in for the 50-yard touchdown. The PAT gave the Bulldogs a 21-10 lead with 1:28 to go in the first half.

The Wonder Boys had 1:20 to recapture some momentum before the halftime break. Halpin’s pass to Tony Adams got ATU to the 20 with 28 seconds to go. His pass to Simpson got to the 1, then Justin Owens crossed the goal line from a yard out for the touchdown with 18 seconds to go. Velasquez added the PAT to make it 21-17 at halftime.

Southwestern outgained the Wonder Boys 448-343 in total offense. Stenta completed 15-of-27 passes for 271 yards and four touchdowns. Smithey and Corbin each caught six passes for 94 and 91 yards, respectively. D.C. Walker rushed 22 times for 96 yards. The Bulldogs suffered 10 penalties for 118 yards, including four roughing-the-passer penalties on sacks that cost them 60 yards.

Halpin was 31-of-49 for 296 yards and two interceptions for ATU, which committed 11 penalties for 87 yards. Simpson caught eight passes for 124 yards.

The Wonder Boys hit the road for three straight games, the first next Saturday in Bethany, Okla., at Southern Nazarene. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.